Short-term evaluation of captopril in patients with chronic left sided valvular regurgitations.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the clinical effects and the changes in cardiac performance of high- and low-dose captopril compared to placebo in patients with chronic symptomatic aortic regurgitation (AR), and/or mitral regurgitation (MR).


METHODS
We randomized patients into three groups, placebo (Group 1), incremental daily doses of 50 mg (Group 2), and 100 mg captopril (Group 3). We compared exercise capacity before and after four-week of treatment.


RESULTS
Treatment was well tolerated with no serious side effects including blood chemistry. There were no significant effects of treatment on left ventricular dimensions nor calculated left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) between groups (LVEF change -0.6%, -2.6%, 2.4%, in group 1, 2 and 3 respectively; p > 0.05). No difference of exercise duration between treatment and placebo arms (change by 13%, 12.8%, 16.4%, respectively; p > 0.05). However, there were trends in the number of the patients who improved in left ventricular performance (absolute LVEF change > 5% unit = 15%, 16%, and 42% respectively; p > 0.05) and exercise performance (exercise time improvement > 75 sec = 50%, 47%, and 68% respectively; p > 0.05) in high dose captopril treatment group.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no significant improvement of left ventricular performance and exercise capacity after four-weeks' treatment of low and high dose captopril. Further study with a larger sample size, and longer follow-up period may be required.
Jirasirirojanakorn
K
K
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Mahanonda
N
N
Jootar
P
P
Chaithiraphan
S
S
Wansanit
K
K
Watanaprakarnchai
W
W
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002216:Captopril / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000187:drug effects*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000187:drug effects*
D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; D002216:Captopril